China sees foreign visitor numbers more than double after lifting visa rules for many travellers

China's visa-free policy appears to be succeeding in its aim of attracting more visitors as the number of foreigners entering the country more than doubled in the first six months of the year.

In total 14.64 million foreigners visited the country in the first half of the year, up 152.7 per cent year on year, data from the National Immigration Administration showed.

The number of visa-free entries made by foreigners passed 8.5 million, accounting for 58 per cent of inbound trips and representing a year-on-year increase of 190 per cent, according to the administration.

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But the number of foreign visitors is still short of reach pre-Covid levels, when 15.53 million foreign travellers visited in the first half of 2019.

With the country facing a slump in domestic tourism as a result of the flagging economy, China has gradually been increasing the number of countries whose citizens can visit for up to 15 days for business, tourism, family visits.

The new visa-free rules cover more than a dozen countries in Europe as well as Australia. A further 23 countries have mutual visa exemptions, including Thailand, which was added to the list this year. Singaporeans and Malaysians can visit for up to 30 days at a time.

The country also expanded its visa-free transit policy to 54 countries last November. Citizens from these countries can stay for up to 144 hours in Beijing, Shanghai and 20 other cities if they have a valid onward ticket to another country. There are further exemptions for cruise ship passengers stopping over.

The National Immigration Administration said it had processed a total of 287 million inbound and outbound trips in the first six months of 2024 - marking a 70.9 per cent rise year on year.

These included 137 million journeys by mainland residents, 121 million by residents from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan and 29.2 million by foreigners.

Various measures to make travel easier for international visitors have also been introduced. These include easing restrictions to allow visitors to use the most common domestic payment apps with foreign bank accounts or cards - a major problem in the past because most businesses do not accept cash or the main international cards such as Visa or Mastercard.

The People's Bank of China has also increased the amount foreign passport holders are allowed to spend on mobile payment apps, raising the amount allowed in a single transaction from US$1,000 to US$5,000 and the annual cumulative limit from US$10,000 to US$50,000.

The authorities have also tried to ease barriers on booking accommodation, telling businesses not to turn away international visitors and removing a rule that required hotels to have a certificate allowing them to accept foreign guests.

Zhu Shanzhong, former deputy director of the China National Tourism Administration, told the 21st Century Business Herald in December that greater numbers of foreign visitors would play an important role in boosting the domestic tourist industry's fortunes.

He said that even before the Covid pandemic there had been a "large gap" between China and some of the most popular destinations in terms of the contribution foreign tourism made to gross domestic product, but it was expected to start closing this.

"Market growth will exceed one trillion yuan [US$137 billion] year on year, and the proportion of my country's GDP from foreigners' inbound tourism revenue is expected to increase to 1 per cent in the future," Zhu said.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.